State
Roswell shooter has history of mental illness
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) - Roswell's fire chief and a 3-year-old boy remained in a Texas hospital Tuesday - three days after they survived a shooting spree that left three other people dead.
Paul Freeman, a man with a history of mental problems, set fire to his girlfriend's home before dawn Saturday, authorities said. He then killed a neighbor and a paramedic and shot the fire chief and child before killing himself, authorities said.
Roswell Fire Chief Louis Jones and Kordale Houghton were in critical condition at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock, said a spokeswoman for Covenant Health Systems.
All the gunshot victims but the boy were shot in the head at close range, Police Chief Richard Campbell said. The boy was shot in the area of his shoulder and neck, the chief said.
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Freeman, 27, had been taking antidepressants and recently threatened to commit suicide as his relationship with his girlfriend deteriorated, Campbell said.
His girlfriend, Melissa Archuleta, was out of town Saturday.
Freeman's ex-wife, LaToshia Freeman of Abilene, Texas, struggled Monday to comprehend why the man she was married to for five years chose to open fire on people who were trying to help him.
"I can't make any sense of it," she said. "Paul was a wonderful person, a good father. I don't think anyone knew how sick he was."
LaToshia said Freeman, who had two young sons, had been diagnosed with a manic-depressive order before they were married. She said he stopped going to counseling and would take his medication only when depressed.
After the explosion Saturday, Freeman crawled across the street where a neighbor, Randy Houghton, helped him into his home to await firefighters and paramedics.
Police said emergency workers tried to treat Freeman when they arrived but he pulled out a 9mm handgun and began firing, killing Houghton and emergency medical technician Steve Lovato.
Freeman grabbed Houghton's 5-year-old daughter, Haley, as a hostage and retreated to a back bedroom before he shot himself.
Haley was not wounded but was covered with blood when firefighters rescued her.
A memorial service for Lovato is scheduled Wednesday afternoon at Grace Community Church in Roswell. Services for Houghton have not yet been arranged.
A memorial service for Freeman is scheduled Saturday morning at the Anderson-Bethany Funeral Chapel.
National
Bush urges legislators to vote for amnesty bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush renewed his request for lawmakers to pass an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants, saying he wants to carry the measure to Mexico this week as evidence of America's compassion.
Bush said Tuesday the bill, known as 245(i), would increase border security. An amendment would require identification documents to be more tamper-resistant and secure, toughen the applicant screening process and require monitoring of foreign students and exchange visitors to ensure they maintain their status.
The bill also would signal that the United States cares about keeping Mexican families intact. "We believe in family values," Bush told reporters at the end of a Cabinet meeting. "We believe good policy keeps families together."
The bill would extend a deadline for giving hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants the chance to apply for residency without leaving the United States. It has passed the House and awaits Senate approval.
Some conservatives oppose amnesty programs for illegal immigrants, arguing that such programs reward illicit border crossing.
Though the bill is aimed at ilegal immigrants, Bush three times referred to legal immigrants as he promoted it. A spokesman said Bush was referring to immigrants who are eligible to become legal residents.
"I'm going to Mexico. I want to show our friends the Mexicans that we are compassionate about people who live here on a legal basis, that we don't disrupt the families for people who are here legally," Bush said.
Republicans are relying on various issues to gain support of the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group, including broadening immigration.
Thursday, Bush begins a trip to Latin America that will take him to Mexico, Peru and El Salvador for an economic development conference.
Tuesday afternoon, the White House clarified its financial aid offering to other countries. Last week the administration pledged an extra $5 billion in aid for developing nations over the next three years.
In fact, it would be about $10 billion total over that period. Bush would provide about $1.7 billion the first year, about $3.3 billion in the second year and the full $5 billion in the third and subsequent years, said spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
Man charged with murder after discovery of bodies
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - A man pulled over in Utah with two bodies in his trunk reportedly had a journal in the car with an entry reading "Torch car? . Bury in remote area."
Patrick Daniel, 31, of Ann Arbor was arraigned Tuesday on two counts of murder in Sevier County, Utah. His attorney, John Hummel, said Daniel probably wouldn't fight extradition to Michigan.
"There's nothing that I'm able to talk about at this time," Hummel said. "Obviously, it's a very dramatic set of events."
Utah Highway Patrol officers stopped Daniel on Thursday and found the frozen, dismembered body of a woman and the body of a man with a noose around his neck.
Police said Robert Bilton Jr., 35, of Dearborn was strangled with a wire or cord and suffered a blow to the head. The name of the 31-year-old woman was not released.
The Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday that the journal read: "Torch car? . Bury in remote area."
Investigators said they believe Daniel was driving to Las Vegas to dispose of the bodies. He gave police a false name and told them he was on his way to visit his wife.
Troopers said they pulled Daniel over because his Missouri-registered car did not have a front license plate as required.
International
Russia launches booster rockets to bid for market
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's premier aerospace company has developed a range of new booster rockets for foreign satellites in a bid to hold onto its share of the market for commercial launches, its director said Tuesday.
A Rokot booster developed by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Center put twin U.S.-German satellites into orbit on Sunday. The rocket was converted from a Soviet-designed SS-19 ballistic missile.
The unmanned German spacecraft, nicknamed Tom and Jerry, will fly in tandem to create what scientists hope will be the most accurate map ever of the Earth's gravitational field.
Khrunichev's director, Alexander Medvedev, said his company earned about $10 million for the launch, which was barely above production cost.
"We have to charge bottom price" to remain competitive, he said at a news conference.
Medvedev said that the launch price could be increased later as Rokot wins a market niche. He said another three Rokot launches are set for this year.
Thanks to its heavy-lift Proton, Khrunichev has become the top cash cow for the beleaguered Russian space industry, putting commercial satellites - mostly foreign - into high, geostationary orbits throughout the 1990s.
Russia receives tens of millions of dollars for each launch, a coveted revenue source for an industry struggling to survive on a fraction of generous Soviet-era state funding.
Medvedev blamed a sluggish global market for commercial space launches for last year's drop in the number of Proton launches. Khrunichev launched only two Western satellites into orbit atop Protons last year. Another two commercial launches set for 2001 were postponed until this year because of problems with satellites, Medvedev said.
He said his company had invested part of the earnings from commercial launches into research and development works for Rokot, Proton-M and the next-generation Angara rocket.
Khrunichev has also paid for upgrading the crumbling Soviet-era infrastructure of the Baikonur cosmodrome, which Russia leases from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, and Russia's own Plesetsk cosmodrome used for Sunday's launch.
Medvedev said Khrunichev paid for a backup power system at the Baikonur after the Kazakh authorities once cut power to the launch pad minutes before a scheduled commercial liftoff.
"Such incidents can land you in the madhouse," he said.
